OUR VIEW: Etowah jail neither resort nor hellhole

Published: Sunday, November 18, 2012 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, November 16, 2012 at 6:52 p.m.

It would be naive to think that people who are behind bars — whether overnight or for an extended time — are going to be happy about the conditions in which they find themselves. Jail is not meant to be fun. Even the officials who run the place won’t tell you that the Etowah County Detention Center is an ideal place for long-term detention of prisoners — criminal, political or otherwise. But they also will tell you it’s not the hellhole it was made out to be by the Detention Watch Network.

DWN, along with Families for Freedom, a human rights organization, released a report it called “Expose and Close” a few days ago. It listed the Etowah County immigrant detention operation as one of the 10 worst in the country and called for its immediate closure. The jail houses about 300 detainees through a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, under ICE’s New Orleans field office.

Problems areas cited included medical care, quality of the food and lack of access to outdoor recreation. The outdoor recreation issue can’t be argued, as the jail doesn’t have a place to offer it. Planning, however, is under way for a rec area. It’s part of the efforts to have the jail meet the 2011 Performance-based National Detention Standards, which is a critical component of housing detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Another area of concern, medical care, is a bit more open to interpretation. The jail doesn’t have doctors on staff 24 hours a day, contracting with a local medical group for services. It does have a medical unit that has full dental and X-ray suites and it has been accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. The national detention standards cover cultural issues, including food, so it’s not news that improvements can be made in that area. Federal inspectors regularly check the dietary offerings at the jail and an Etowah County grand jury in 2010 found that the food was adequate and met federal guidelines. Truth be told, no one expects jail food to get any stars from the Michelin Guide.

Much of the “Expose and Close” report’s findings were based on anonymous calls from the detention center to a hotline. It would seem unlikely that many of those calls would be made in praise of the facility.

As for detainees’ complaints, they shouldn’t be ignored. None of the detainees, many of whom are caught up in bureaucratic red tape while either waiting to plead their cases for staying in this country or already awaiting deportation, should be denied basic rights. They should be treated with dignity.

These groups have a philosophical difference with current immigration laws, and we question whether they would find any arrangement for housing detainees, save releasing them on their own recognizance, satisfactory. We wonder if their efforts would be better directed toward Congress, pushing it to consider comprehensive immigration reform and address the laws they find so odious.

<p>It would be naive to think that people who are behind bars — whether overnight or for an extended time — are going to be happy about the conditions in which they find themselves. Jail is not meant to be fun. Even the officials who run the place won't tell you that the Etowah County Detention Center is an ideal place for long-term detention of prisoners — criminal, political or otherwise. But they also will tell you it's not the hellhole it was made out to be by the Detention Watch Network.</p><p>DWN, along with Families for Freedom, a human rights organization, released a report it called “Expose and Close” a few days ago. It listed the Etowah County immigrant detention operation as one of the 10 worst in the country and called for its immediate closure. The jail houses about 300 detainees through a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, under ICE's New Orleans field office.</p><p>Problems areas cited included medical care, quality of the food and lack of access to outdoor recreation. The outdoor recreation issue can't be argued, as the jail doesn't have a place to offer it. Planning, however, is under way for a rec area. It's part of the efforts to have the jail meet the 2011 Performance-based National Detention Standards, which is a critical component of housing detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.</p><p>Another area of concern, medical care, is a bit more open to interpretation. The jail doesn't have doctors on staff 24 hours a day, contracting with a local medical group for services. It does have a medical unit that has full dental and X-ray suites and it has been accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. The national detention standards cover cultural issues, including food, so it's not news that improvements can be made in that area. Federal inspectors regularly check the dietary offerings at the jail and an Etowah County grand jury in 2010 found that the food was adequate and met federal guidelines. Truth be told, no one expects jail food to get any stars from the Michelin Guide.</p><p>Much of the “Expose and Close” report's findings were based on anonymous calls from the detention center to a hotline. It would seem unlikely that many of those calls would be made in praise of the facility.</p><p>As for detainees' complaints, they shouldn't be ignored. None of the detainees, many of whom are caught up in bureaucratic red tape while either waiting to plead their cases for staying in this country or already awaiting deportation, should be denied basic rights. They should be treated with dignity.</p><p>These groups have a philosophical difference with current immigration laws, and we question whether they would find any arrangement for housing detainees, save releasing them on their own recognizance, satisfactory. We wonder if their efforts would be better directed toward Congress, pushing it to consider comprehensive immigration reform and address the laws they find so odious.</p>